Storage communication is requested to have a higher communication performance than inter-server communication in order to transfer large amount of data. Therefore, conventionally, networks for the storage communication and the inter-server communication have been independently provided.
Here, the inter-server communication network is, for example, a local area network (LAN). In the LAN, the Ethernet (registered trademark) is mainly used as a communication standard. Alternatively, the storage communication network is called a storage area network (SAN). In the SAN, a Fibre Channel (FC) is used as a standard.
On the other hand, accelerating of the Ethernet has progressed recently. Therefore, an integrated network in which the inter-server communication and the storage communication are integrated can be implemented. A technique for implementing the integrated network is, for example, a fibre channel over Ethernet (FCoE) which is the technique for handling, in the Ethernet, an FC packet which is the standard of the SAN.
The specification to detect a virtual LAN (VLAN) used in the FCoE is defined as the FCoE initialization protocol (FIP) VLAN Discovery. In accordance with the FIP VLAN Discovery, the storage communication traffic and the inter-server communication traffic can be separately handled in the FCoE. The FIP is a protocol to handle a virtual link corresponding to an FC link on the Ethernet. Hereinafter, the VLAN used in the FCoE is referred to as an “FCoE VLAN”.
In the procedures of the FIP VLAN Discovery, first, an end node, such as a server or a storage, transmits an FIP VLAN Request packet to a network in order to discover the FCoE VLAN. In the FIP VLAN Request packet communication, a default VLAN set to the network in advance is used.
Then, the FCoE VLAN Request packet arrives at an FCoE Forwarder (FCF) which switches the FCoE packet via the network. The FCF returns an FIP VLAN Notification packet in response to the FCoE VLAN Request. The FIP VLAN Notification packet stores a VID (VLAN Identifier) of the VLAN used in the FCoE communication.
The FIP VLAN Notification packet transmitted by the FCF arrives at an end node which is the transmission source of the FIP VLAN Request via the network. The end node, which receives the FIP VLAN Notification packet, uses the VLAN having the VID stored in the received FIP VLAN Notification packet as the FCoE VLAN in the subsequent FCoE communication.
Here, as a VLAN technique, there is a conventional technique which converts a VID and connects a different VLAN, for example, in which a VID used in an area network is associated with a VID used in a wide area network, and the VID is converted to perform communication between the area network and the wide area network.
Furthermore, there is a conventional technique which mutually converts a VLAN tag in a user's home and a common tag used in a backbone.
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Patent Literature 2: Japanese Laid-open Patent Publication No 2003-234750
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However, in a system including a network, a server manager, a server-peripheral internal network manager, and an external network manager may be different. Furthermore, the FCF may exist in the external network.
In order to perform the FCoE communication with this configuration, it is preferable that the FCoE VLAN used in the internal network corresponds to the FCoE VLAN used in the external network. This is because the packet used for the FIP VLAN Discovery is exchanged over the management boundary, and the end node existing in the internal network uses, in the FCoE communication, the FCoE VLAN notified by the FCF existing in the external network.
Here, it is difficult for the internal network manager to perform the settings of the external network. Therefore, when the FCoE VLAN used in the internal network is associated with the FCoE VLAN used in the external network, the internal network manager sets the FCoE VLAN of the internal network to the FCoE VLAN of the external network. In this manner, when the FCoE VLAN used in the internal network is associated with the FCoE VLAN used in the external network, the degree of freedom of the FCoE VLAN used in the internal network is restricted and the burden on the manager increases. In addition, the external network manager and the internal network manager can adjust the settings of the FCoE VLAN. However, even with this method, it is difficult to reduce the burden on the manager.
In this regard, the conventional technique which converts a VID and connect a different VLAN does not consider the FCoE. Therefore, it is difficult to connect a different FCoE VLAN based on the procedures of the FIP VLAN Discovery, and it is difficult to reduce the burden on the manager in the FCoE communication. Similarly, the conventional technique which mutually converts a VLAN tag in a user's home and a common tag used in a backbone does not consider the FCoE, and it is difficult to reduce the burden on the manager.